$30,000 bail for man accused of having fake Valium pills

December 13, 2010

A west suburban man was being held in lieu of $30,000 after authorities say he was found with thousands of counterfeit Valium pills, the Cook County sheriff's office said today.

Amin Rupani, 40, of the 2600 block of Salix Circle in Naperville, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance. He was arrested at his computer business, Precision Technologies, in Elk Grove Village.

The sheriff's police special operations unit began its investigation into Rupani's activities after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, along with the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, came across a package containing fake Valium pills. There were 20,000 pills packed inside plastic containers with Rupani's business address, sheriff's police said, but a fake name.

On Thursday, sheriff's office investigators and federal agents wired the Valium package with a monitoring and tracking device and conducted a controlled delivery to Rupani's office. When officers received a radio transmission signal that the package had been opened, they entered the business and placed Rupani under arrest, the sheriff's office said.

He allegedly told investigators he received packages from a friend who lives in Karachi, Pakistan, and that he was told the pills were vitamins and weight loss drugs. Forensic tests of the seized pills show they contain the active ingredient in Valium but were manufactured by a criminal enterprise in China.

Rupani admitted he forwarded the packages sent by his co-conspirator to addresses in Texas and California on a regular basis, using his company's UPS account, the sheriff's office said.

A search of Rupani's business turned up nine plastic bags containing an estimated 20,000 light green triangular pills Xanax -- which the sheriff's office said is believed to be counterfeit -- and a box of diet pills.